RTE, Today FM among winners in audience figures

RTÉ radio stations gained an extra 40,000 daily listeners in the year ended June 2002 compared to the previous year, according the latest JNLR/MRBI report into radio listening.

An estimated 1.645 million people listen each day to RTÉ Radio 1, 2FM, Lyric fm and Raidio na Gaeltachta, the report - published yesterday - shows.

Today FM also emerged as one of the biggest winners in the report with its weekly listenership figure increasing to 960,000, a rise of 72,000 on the same period last year.

There is mixed news for other broadcasters, however, with 98 FM and Lite FM showing a fall-off in their share of listeners in Dublin.

Of the latest radio stations to join the market, Red 104-106 FM is shown to have performed best, boasting a 16 per cent "reach" in Cork in the first six months of operations.

NewsTalk 106, launched last April, claimed a 3 per cent reach among Dublin adults in its first three months on air. Spin FM claimed a 5 per cent reach among 15 to 34-year-olds in the capital, which it said was in line with its target.

The reach figure measures the proportion of adults tuning in to the station at some time during the day prior to surveying. It is contrasted with a "share" figure, which indicates how many minutes listeners are staying with the station. JNLR/MRBI note that the depth of listening or loyalty to various stations is best reflected in the latter figure.

A total of 7,140 people were interviewed for the survey which covers the period July 2001 to June 2002.

Of the RTÉ stations, Radio 1 performed best with a 1 per cent increase in its national share to 27 per cent compared to the 12-month period ended December 2001. 2FM saw a 1 per cent drop in its share to 18 per cent.

As for Lyric fm, it showed encouraging gains with an extra 27,000 people tuning in daily compared to the previous year. This increases the station's average weekday listenership to 126,000.

Nine of the top 10 radio programmes remained in the RTÉ stable with Morning Ireland heading the list at 526,000 daily listeners, an increase of 46,000 on the previous year. The increase was partly accounted for by a half-hour extension in the programme's broadcasting time.

In second and third, Marian Finucane swapped places with Gerry Ryan. The former gained 34,000 listeners to 416,000, while the latter lost 19,000 to 374,000.

Today with Pat Kenny gained 27,000 listeners to 372,000 and Liveline gained 30,000 to 360,000.

The biggest losers were 2FM's Gareth O'Callaghan (down 9,000 to 252,000) and Larry Gogan (down 4,000 to 232,000); and 5-7 Live (down 4,000 to 213,000).

Many listeners appear to have switched to rival shows on Today FM. The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show gained 31,000 listeners to 208,000; the Ray D'Arcy Show gained 26,000 to 140,000; and the Last Word gained 22,000 to 177,000.